


Poolside Admiration

by iamatheatrekid



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Coming Out, First Crush, Gay Will Byers, Starcourt Mall (Stranger Things), Summer, Swimming Pools
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 08:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20272942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamatheatrekid/pseuds/iamatheatrekid
Summary: While at the pool with his friends, Will finds himself staring at a boy more than he swims  And that feeling he felt when the boy looked at him was a feeling that he knew he recognized. So, when his brother asked why he was blushing, Will didn't know what to say.





	Poolside Admiration

The sun glared down onto the city of Hawkins, Indiana like any other day. Except today, it was well ignored by half of the small population cooling off at the community pool. Everyone had reason to go, especially on a hot day like this one. It wasn’t really deemed “cool” for many teenagers to go, unless they took their time admiring the lifeguards, but a group of kids who just graduated Hawkins Middle didn’t care about being cool.

The childish yells and screams blended in nicely with those of the actual children in the shallow end, and the older kids continued to play about. Dustin, Max, and Lucas were the most childish, trying to dunk each other without getting caught, while Mike and El went about in a more mature manner. El was strapped into a life jacket, for she was without the ability to swim, with Mike holding closely onto her and trying to guide her around the pool.

Will Byers was quiet and sat on the edge with his feet hanging into the water as he just looked around. His eyes caught onto a group of boys he didn’t know who were standing around, occasionally splashing each other. There was one boy with wet brown hair pushed out of his face, which was sun-tanned and gleaming. He wore a smile while talking with his friends and watched them fool around with kind eyes.

Will’s mind focused in on this boy with the sounds of his friends drifting away and his peripheral vision blocking them out. “Will, come in the water!” Dustin had called out, to which he got no reply. “Will!”

Max splashed him, which got his attention. He jerkily turned towards them, his mind quickly snapping out.

“Who were you looking at?” Lucas asked, turning his head towards the direction of the boys.

“Oh! I just saw someone I thought I knew.” Will quickly said, sliding into the pool.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Jonathan was picking him up to go to the mall afterwards, so after Will dried himself off, he wandered towards the exit. The boys were drying themselves off and Will sneaked another peek, completely safe now that his friends had left and wouldn’t see it. He did have to be cautious about the the boys catching him, though, and he was glad that they were a more rowdy bunch. He almost got away with it, but then the boy with the darker hair looked his way.

Will froze in his step and had to wait a minute before his mind caught up with telling his body to look away. His heart got so hot and it felt like it had stopped beating. Will tried to quickly walk away and he felt his lips curl up into a smile. The boy looked at him.

His cheeks got hot and Will prayed his body would calm down because there Jonathan’s car was waiting for him. Nancy almost tagged along and now Will wished that she had. He had been third, and fifth and seventh, wheeling for too long, but at least it gave him time to get lost in his own world. It did suck that his friends weren’t interested in hanging out with him as much anymore, but in the moment, Will wished that Nancy was there so he could turn invisible and think about the boy that looked at him.

“Hey, buddy,” Jonathan greeted once Will slid into the car. He was still lost in a stupid grin which Jonathan didn’t notice at first. “What happened to your hair?” Jonathan asked, before reaching over too rustle it. “I thought you said you weren’t going to swim.”

Will stupidly shrugged and looked down at his hands, a surefire sign to Jonathan that something wasn’t right. “Hey, what’s up?” He asked, retreating his hands into his lap.

Will looked over at him and nervously laughed. “Nothing.”

“I don’t believe you. You have that lovestruck grin on your face.”Will shook his head and forced his mouth out of the smile. “What? No I don’t.”

“Yes you do. What, did you hang out with some girl at the pool?”

Will sighed. “No.”

Jonathan laughed and started to drive off. “Okay, whatever you say.”

Will reached over and turned the radio up in an attempt to push the focus away from the conversation. It wasn’t until they were getting out of the car at the Starcourt Mall that Will spoke again.

“What do you think about gay people?” He asked, to which Jonathan was caught very off guard.

He laughed, and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well some people don’t like them and some people don’t care.”

“Why are you asking?”

Will regretted it. Jonathan was looking at him like he was really concerned and it made Will nervous. He shrugged and decided it would be best if he kept his glance on the ground. “I don’t know, I was just wondering.”

They started to drift away from the car and Jonathan tried to craft a response. “Well, um, I don’t really know. I guess I don’t care. People can love whoever they want, you know?”

Will nodded and kept walking. He could feel Jonathan’s stare on him, though. “What do you think about gay people?”

Will shrugged and almost left it at that. But, after a considerable amount of time passed and Jonathan stopped looking at him, he spoke again. “I don’t really know any gay people but I think they’re fine. It’s just who you are.”

Jonathan smiled and wrapped his arm around Will, saying, “Yeah it is.”

They walked into the mall and the quiet air around them was replaced by loud music and people talking to each other. Will thought to himself for a moment and, before he had time to think longer, blurted out, “What if I was gay?”

Jonathan’s steps almost faltered, but he kept his composure. It was information he was sure he knew, but finally hearing his brother say it made him want to stop in his tracks. “Well,” he started by saying, “then you would be gay. You would still be you and nothing would change.”

Will nodded again, the breath he didn’t realize he was holding onto finally releasing. “Cool,” he said, and he smiled broke out onto his face once again.


End file.
